And it's gone!

...and finally, the car transporter arrived at my house to take the Zero back to GBS for its pre-IVA inspection with Simon.  It should be delivered some time next week and hopefully ready to collect by mid-Oct.  Fingers crossed!

I made a half hood from a tarpaulin to try and keep it dry on the journey home.  Thankfully, there's a Pimlico Plumbers' van above it to keep the worst off it too :)

Transportation costs came to £550 - cheaper than driving, which is worth remembering for the future!

Thar She Blows!

Some pics of my handywork :)

Finishing touches

The car transporter was due to arrive today at 3pm and I had a list of minor jobs to finish before its arrival.  Thankfully, the driver cried off, so I got a reprieve!  However, on the task list for today:

Speedo calibration
Indicator repeaters
Boot cover fit
Door fitting
Nut covers / IVA trim

Speedo calibration.  Easy.  Turn on ignition with reset button held in.  After 3 seconds, the speedo goes into set PPU mode, the magic number is 013021; input this number and it's done.

Indicator repeaters.  My original ones blew because I wired them in the wrong way round late at night when I should have been in bed!  I bought some clear-lensed repeaters from Car Builder Solutions and they fitted straight in.  I bonded 3 cable tie bridges under each wheel arch to fix the cable in place and ran the cables through the wing bracket tubing:

Boot cover.  Press studs look bad as I don't have (and couldn't find!) the mini-machine that is needed to fit them.  I made my own from a block of hardwood, but they press stud caps are all slightly damaged.  In slow time, I plan to drill them off and refir new ones when I have the correct tools.

Door fitting.  Also straight forward, but a little fiddly!  I followed Simon's instructions from the GBS Owners' Club forum here:  http://www.gbsownersclub.co.uk/forum/technical-talk/doors/ 

I used M5x16mm bolts with washers and locknuts and they seem to be a perfect fit.  The hinges are sided and have to be fitted to the correct side of the car so that the door can be lifted off the hinge.  I chose to bolt the lower part of the hinge to the inside of the windscreen bracket, just so that it looks a bit neater without the doors fitted, but I think that either side of the frame would work.  The top tip from Simon is ensuring that the rear of the door is supported before finally tightening all the nuts - I concur as the left hand door was very tricky to remove and refit until I did this.  Here's what they look like now:

Nut covers / IVA trim.  Fitting nut covers is about 1,000,000 times easier than fitting IVA trim, however they were both easy enough and needed doing.  IVA trim is fitted to the nose cone, front wheel arches, exhaust / suspension / steering holes in the body work, seat belt ancher points, headlight brackets and inside the boot.

The only outstanding issue now is the door sill trims, but I need to find someone who is able to kink them inside edges for me.  I tried the metal workshop in the village, but his machine is a monster and will eat the trims, so I need to find someone else.

Daylight for the first time!

Today was a good day - the Zero left the garage for the first time!  I had to build ramps for the drive as the car's breakover angle is too low for the top of my drive, hence until now, the car has been trapped inside.  Thankfully, it seems that everyone in the village is an expert in removing cars from garages, so they all came out to offer their helpful advice ;)

Anyway, it worked in the end.  Here's the evidence:

Please note:  professional driver, closed road.

Aux Panel Wiring

I have been faffing with the aux plug wiring for a while.  There are a couple of issues:

-  I was sent a hazard warning light switch for the aux panel when the Ford wiring is designed to use the switch on top of the steering column.  I didn't realise until I had already fitted the switch to the aux panel.

-  I was inspired by Richard Lincoln and want the Savage switches to illuminate with the side lights.

Once I had the plug wiring set up for the hazard lights switch, I set about modifying it to include wiring for the LEDs.  Here's the schematic I ended up with:

It is simple in principle: there is a 5K6 resistor from aux plug pin 1 (side lights) to the +ve terminal on the LED along with gratuitous use of diodes to stop the current flowing back where it shouldn't go.  The diodes are orientated so that current can only flow INTO the LED +ve terminal.  The net result is that the LEDs illuminate dimly with side lights on.  Then:

-  The horn switch LED remains dim regardless of what's happening. 

-  The fog light switch is dim with the fog light off or bright with it on - the fog light feed comes from the dipped headlight signal, so only works when the headlights are switched on. 

-  The hazard light switch now flashes bright / off with the side lights off or bright / dim with the side lights on. 

Overall, it looks great and now I'm happy.

Steering Column Surround

I have a GBS surround which fits over the steering column behind the steering wheel, however, it leaves the bottom of the column unprotected.  I bought a piece of aluminium from the local carpinteria metalica, cut out the shape, covered it in leatherette material and it ended up looking like this:

And when fitted:

Good enough for now :)

Dashboard Fitting

I was looking for a way to mask the aluminium on the underside of the scuttle which would be visible once the dashboard was fitted.  I have a number of bicycle innertubes which are waiting to be repurposed so cut one and glued it into place.  I put a couple of smaller pieces where the scuttle meets the door sill to cover the gaps there:

New Dashboard

After a disasterous attempt to colour-code the dashboard, I decided to put a carbon fibre skin over the fibre glass to hide the problem.  I bought a kit from Easy Composites and then followed their very useful video tutorial.  Before starting, I roughened the surface of the fibre glass to aid adhesion and then painted it black.  There will only be one skin of carbon, so any breaks in the carbon may reveal the background colour.  Having said that, Easy Composites supplies epoxy resin with black dye to reduce the likelihood of this problem.

Because 2 x 2 carbon twill has a directional weave, I split the dash in the centre and set the weave so that it eminates outwards from the centre point.  Here's the result:

There are some imperfections on close inspection, but overall I am pleased with my first attempt at skinning and think that there are many other parts which could be skinned for good effect.

Exhaust

Time to fit the exhaust and manifold (but not in that order).

Exhaust manifold is easy enough, however the dipstick holder needs to be removed and the coolant overflow needs loosening off to put the manifold in the correct position.  I couldn't get the manifold bolts to bite onto the manifold tightly enough, possibly because they are slightly too long, but adding an extra washer to each bolt solved the problem.

Next, the back end of the pipe needs trimming to allow the silencer to fit and allow it to be removed without having to remove the rear wing.  I measured 60mm back from the weld and cut there.  Once done, the silencer is offered up to determine the correct position for the exhaust mounting bracket.  The exhaust bracket is mounted with 2 x M10 bolts through the floor and one through the side of the lowered floor.

The front of the silencer needs a slot cutting to allow it to clamp round the manifold pipe.  After this, I stop-drilled the slot to relieve the root-bending stresses and prevent it from propagating any further (finally, 3 years studying engineering pays off!):

Once prepared, the whole lot was bolted together (without paste) and that's the exhaust done.

Rear Wings and Lights

Still waiting for the throttle bodies to arrive.  Time for fitting the rear wings and lights. 

The reverse and fog lights must have their reflectors perpendicular to the road surface.  In order to achieve this, about 10mm needs trimming from the bottom edge of the casing.  I used a hacksaw to get them roughly where they needed to be, then finished off with sandpaper on the floor to get a consistent edge all the way round.  I used some thin IVA trim around the edge of the light casing and then bolted them into place:

A caution here is that there are 2 negative terminals in each of the light casings and it is very easy to connect the wires incorrecly causing a short circuit.  


Next up, I cut the tadpole trim so that it would bend around the profile of the rear wing and then used contact adhesive to hold it in place.  Other builders have used the panel-bonding agent, but I really don't like it as I find it very difficult to be accurate and tidy when applying it.  Painting the adhesive is much easier.

Once the trim was attached, I bolted the wings into place:

I used masking tape to help line up the positions for the rear light clusters, noting that the suspension isn't quite level...  ...danger, danger!

I made a cardboard template using the backing plate from the light clusters:

And then used it to mark up the positions onto the wings, drilled holes and mounted the rear clusters:

I ran the cable through a support attached to one of the mounting bolts thus:

I have read some chat about putting the electrical connector inside the bodywork to protect it from water, dirt and other contamination thrown up by the wheel, but this would make it considerably more difficult to remove the wing in the future.  I am not sure how often wing removal would need to be done, but I will stick with this set up for now!

Oil Catch Tank

I have an oil catch tank to fit.  After some thought about mounting locations, I settled for the centre of the firewall.  However, before drilling any holes, I decided that the tank needed a coat of paint to help it blend in a little better!

Here it is post spraying:

It now sits on the firewall, photo to follow.  In order to get the rivnuts to fit, I had to pack out the ECU so that the back of it isn't flush with the firewall - 5 x penny washers on each bolt did the job.  I then mounted the catch tank as high as it would go with the breather filter fitted so that there is the maximum amount of room available at the bottom to assist emptying the oil from it.

Engine Loom Wiring

I took the time to continue with the engine loom wiring whilst I await the arrival of the throttle bodies.


The battery tray was fitted first using countersunk rivets and ensuring that it won't foul the bonnet when fitted.  This position determines the position of the holes in the firewall for the battery +ve and -ve connections:

I drilled the holes out to 10mm and then increased the diameter with my Dremel.  The rubber gromets were included with the battery cables.

The battery -ve connection runs straight to earth - I almost got the rivnut gun stuck between the rivnut and the chassis member.  Next time, I will put the earth rivnut a little further to the left!

The battery +ve connection runs to the fuse board.

Next, I marked up the position for the wiper motor and ECU - the idea being to minimise the angles out of the wiper motor whilst leaving enough room to get the electrical connectors onto each end of the ECU.  The flasher relay is attached via rivnut to the firewall near the steering column.  This is what I came up with:

After a bit more wire wiggling, I opted to run the battery +ve along the top of the scuttle to the fuse board.  I have zip-tied the wiper cable to the battery +ve and the +ve out to the starter motor runs down from the fuse board, forward along the right hand side of the tunnel.

Here's a close up of the fuse board connection.  The aux plug and dash lead are attached to keep them secure and out of the way:

From where the +ve lead exits the tunnel to the engine bay, I have fixed it to the chassis on its way to the starter motor using cable tie bridges and then cable-tied the rest of the loom to it: 

I used the +ve lead from where it runs down from the chassis to the starter motor to hold the starter solenoid and crank position sensor cables:

That's the left hand side of the engine loom pretty much complete.  I need to take delivery of the throttle bodies before I can start on the right hand side.

Accelerator and Clutch Cables

First, clutch cable.  There are a couple of options for securing the cable in the gearbox housing: notch a nut or notch the housing.  I opted to notch the gearbox mounting like this:

It only needs to be wide enough to get the cable through and then the nuts hold the adjustable section in place.  The cable runs like up to the pedal box.  The supporting bracket near the pedal box needed bending to allow the clutch cable housing to mate squarely:

There is a zip tie around the clutch release arm to stop the end of the clutch cable from disengaging itself it the cable goes slack for whatever reason - it doesn't hold the cable, just fills the hole.

Starter Motor

A quick note on the starter motor - I couldn't find any M10 bolts with a small head like this:

And a normal-sized bolt is impossible to get a socket over because of the tight space, so I got some Allen bolts and they fitted a treat.

The live supply cable runs along the chassis and down to the starter motor and has the starter solenoid and crank position sensor cables zip-tied to it, the lead to the alternator runs out to the side of the car and along the chassis with the light loom.  It has a bit of a kink to allow for engine movement without interfering with the header tank:

Cooling System

I have the GBS water rail and cooling system.  The first job is to smooth the powder coating on the thermostat housing in order to get a good seal against the engine block.  Rubbing the hounsing on sandpaper on the work bench worked well:

I noticed that there was a lot of sand in the water rail from the manufacturing process:

It took some scrubbing down the tube to remove it, but better than allowing it to run through the engine!

The water rail is easy enough to fit, but the front bracket also holds the dipstick and the dipstick can only be fitted after the exhaust, so it can remain loose initially.  I fitted 4 rivnuts for the header tank to the rear of the LH engine mount and fitted a rivnut for the engine earth lead whilst I was there:

The radiator was fitted, noting that there are two sets of mounting points: one set on the front of the rad the other set on the rear.  The rear ones need bending so that the radiator can be mounted using the front set otherwise the nose won't fit over the radiator.  I used 4 mounting points for the rad as shown below, the plastic brackets were sanded slightly so that the fan sits flush onto the face of the rad:

Alternator Electrical

Once the alternator was mechanically fitted, I ran the electrical connection and started the wiring loom installation.  A picture of wiring path for reference:

I found that the cable was a little long, so ran it under the chassis support and into the alternator as shown above.

Alternator Fixing

After fixing the engine, I fitted the alternator next.

I have read several reports of poor battery charging caused by a bad earth path, so I decided to clean some of the powder coating off the mounting brackets to stop this from happening.

And then fitted the brackets into place on the block:

The alternator was mounted into place and the brackets tweaked to ensure that the belt will run straight:

And finally ran the belt and tensioned it.

Car Down, Engine In!

This week, I borrowed some German labour from work and dropped the car onto its wheels:

The car is actually surprisingly heavy, although I think that the other guys weren't really lifting their share of the weight.  It's very exciting to see it on the floor and it's now a lot easier to get my clothes out of the chests of drawers too :)

Anyway, after I shooed everyone out of the garage, I set about getting everything ready for engine installation.

First up, the gearbox (MT75):

-  New pivot fitted
-  Male spade connectors fitted to the reverse light switch
-  Dextron III fluid added - finding info on this was tricky, but the box takes 1.2 litres of fluid and you put it into the hole marked by 'A' on this pic  Once the fluid is in, it's good for the life of the box, hence there's no info in Hayne's or nearly anywhere else.  The easy way fill to the correct level is to pour oil into the filling hole until it comes back out when the box is in its normal fitted position (i.e. horizontal!)
-  Mounting bracket fitted - the bolts supplied with the bracket were much too short, so I bought some longer ones which would fit through the bracket and the lock nuts.  Too short:

Working on my own was hard!  But, advice from Simon @GBS was to fit the gearbox first followed by the engine.

I found it easiest to use a length of rope between the chassis members at the rear of the engine bay to support the front end of the gearbox whilst the rear end rested on the chassis mounting point.

Next was some minor engine prep:

-  Spigot bearing fitted.  I did this without removing the clutch by carefully feeding the bearing through the centre of the clutch on the end of a small socket and then hitting it as hard as I could with a large hammer.  Actually, a few gentle taps was all it needed, but it doesn't sound as manly.
-  Locating dowels fitted to the engine block.  There are 2 and the go into the block in the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock position.  I used a threaded rod and nut to pull them in straight.

There's a detent in the block to stop them in the correct location:

Because I don't have an engine hoist, I made a wooden bridge and used a chain hoist to raise the engine.  I positioned the car under the engine and lowered away:

The pic above shows the rope supporting the front of the gearbox and masking tape on the mounting plates in the chassis.

Several things need to be done before the mounting holes are drilled:
-  Prop shaft connected to gearbox flange
-  Engine connected to gearbox
-  Engine aligned with centre of chassis

Further advice from Simon was to ensure that no undue force is used to pull the engine to the gearbox.  This was the single most awkward part without any assistance.  But it is possible...  ...just!

It is important that the chassis does not bear any engine weight when the mounting holes are drilled.  I opted for the 8mm drill from the outset, drilling straight through the engine mount and the mounting plate.  After each hole was drilled, I inserted a bolt to stop the mount from moving and ensure that all of the bolts would fit!

Fitting nuts under the mounting plates is also tricky, but I found the best way was to remove the relevant bolt, slide the nut under the hole using a finger and then screw the bolt into the nut.  A spanner just fits under the plate to hold the nut as the bolts are torqued.

And that is the engine in place.  Next job was to torque:
-  The engine-to-gearbox bolts, I fitted locking washers to each of these
-  The gearbox mount-to-chassis mount bolt (into a captive lock nut)
-  The prop shaft-to-gearbox flange bolts, I fitted locking washers and used locking compound on advice of several other builders